Deutsche Bank exits from gold, silver price-fixing

Frankfurt (AFP) - Deutsche Bank, Germany's biggest lender, said on Friday it is pulling out of the process for the daily fixing of gold and silver prices.

?Deutsche Bank is withdrawing its participation in the gold and silver benchmark setting process following the significant scaling back of our commodities business," the bank said in a statement.

But it insisted: "We remain fully committed to our precious metals business."

The price of gold and silver are fixed daily in London, serving as a benchmark for the precious metals markets.

The gold price is fixed twice daily via a teleconference between five banks: Bank of Nova Scotia, Barclays, HSBC, Deutsche Bank and Societe Generale.

The price of silver is fixed along the same lines by Deutsche Bank, HSBC and Bank of Novia Scotia.

Deutsche Bank had already announced at the beginning of December that it was scaling back its commodities trading in face of increased regulatory constraints in the sector.